Forty Fort Brings Back Curfew Siren

FORTY FORT, Pa. -- A community in Luzerne County is bringing back an old tradition -- its curfew siren.

Back in the day, if the siren blew and you were a kid under the age of 18, you knew it was time to go home.

"I remember when I was a young kid before a certain age the sirens would blow and I believe the one on Shoemaker Street would blow and this one over here would blow and you had to be in without a parent," Joseph Sapack of Swoyersville said.

Forty Fort is bringing back its curfew siren. Years ago, the siren was used to alert fire responders to fires, but it was also sounded every night at 10.

"It served two purposes," Forty Fort Mayor Andy Tuzinski said. "One, it tested the horn. Two, it informed the children of the town that it was 10:00 and the curfew was in effect and they needed to be home."

The last two times the horn was blown were in 1996 and 2011 because of the threat of flooding. The mayor said he wants to bring it back to restore a sense of tradition.

"A lot of folks have come up to me and asked me, 'Why don't they blow the horn anymore?'" Tuzinski said. "To many of us who have grown up in Forty Fort, it just evokes childhood memories of running home at 10, making sure when didn't pass the cruiser man in the police car."

The borough is still making adjustments to its siren system. Forty Fort residents can expect to start hearing it every night at 10 p.m. soon.

8 comments

Ken Myers

I get up at 3 am for work. How am I suppose to go to work without proper sleep? I will lose my job and have to go on welfare. Either that or become a Scranton teacher. Forget that, I’d be more proud being on welfare!

Frank The Lunatic

Golly Gee Oh Wow, Wally, do you think mom made us a batch of fresh cookies to have before bed?

Give me a break — another reason to joke about NEPA — -Welcome back to the 1950’s.
We have nothing but backward thinking in NEPA and we are so far behind the times that we just recently heard that the Declaration of Independence was signed…